Watch Damon Albarn cover The Smiths’ ‘Panic’ with Africa Express
Damon Albarn covered The Smiths‘ ‘Panic’ with his Africa Express collective on stage in Mexico City this weekend.
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The Blur frontman joined the group for the performance in Morelos, Mexico at Bahidorá Festival on Saturday (February 17).
The musical collective was formed in 2006 with the aim of bringing together artists from different cultures and musical genres for collaborative events.
Albarn sang and played piano for the high-energy performance, and was joined by Camilo Lara for a lively ska interpretation of The Smiths’ 1986 track.
Check out footage of the showcase below.
Announcing the show last month, the Gorillaz artist shared that the performance would mark Africa Express’ first visit to Mexico, bringing together musicians, singers and DJs from around the world “to collaborate on a very special, completely original show”.
NME watched Africa Express live back in 2019, describing the show in a five-star review as a “symbolic display of diversity, collaboration and unity”. It added: “Africa Express rarely gets together, but when it does, it specialises in generating one-off moments through unique combinations.”
The collective’s last release, ‘Egoli‘ also came out in 2019. In a four-star review, NME wrote: “This collaborative record, featuring Damon Albarn, Gruff Rhys, Moonchild Sanelly and more, is a scattershot and hedonistic diary. It’s the collective’s best work to date.”
In more recent news from Albarn, Blur are set to release a new documentary and concert film charting their huge 2023 reunion. Both projects will be released in cinemas in the UK and Ireland later this year.
Back in December, Albarn said that Blur will be going on a hiatus until further notice, with the frontman saying that “it’s too much for me”. He added: “It was the right thing to do and an immense honour to play these songs again, spend time with these guys, make an album, blah-blah-blah.”
The post Watch Damon Albarn cover The Smiths’ ‘Panic’ with Africa Express appeared first on NME.
Hollie Geraghty
NME
